Born in Riga, Latvia, poet and translator Margita Gailitis immigrated to Canada as a child. Gailitis returned to Riga in 1998 to work at the Translation and Terminology Center as part of a Canadian International Development Agency initiative. Today Gailitis focuses her energy on literary translation and poetry, having translated some of Latvia's finest poetry, prose and dramaturgy. Gailitis' own poetry has been widely published and has won her awards from both the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council.